Maricopa County HIDTA responded to the area where the vehicle was located to assist. There were indications that the vehicle had recently been abandoned (within an hour prior to discovery), and there was evidence that there had been at least three occupants who had been traveling in the vehicle. The occupants had fled into the desert area and were not located despite an area search.
The vehicle was a 4 door GMC truck, which had been reported stolen out of Glendale. Located in the cab and bed of the truck was approximately 1,849 pounds of marijuana. The marijuana had a street value of over one million dollars.
Sheriff Paul Babeu stated, “Last week myself and several officials met with Secretary Janet Napolitano regarding our southern border. Secretary Napolitano told our group we are never going to seal the border, and since the beginning of time, we’ve always had contraband going through it.
Myself along with most Americans wonder how the person in charge of securing the border can say we can’t do it. The border can be secured. It has already happened in the Yuma Sector where border
crossings have been reduced by 96%. Why can we put 28,000 soldiers in Korea to secure and protect their border but we can’t put 6,000 here to protect our own border?”
